I'm Ladybug! Or am I?
by anxresi
Summary: Marinette wakes up in a strange new Paris, where 'Ladybug' or 'Cat Noir' don't exist and everyone thinks she's mad. And, all her old friends aren't who they used to be. What on Earth is going on? The search for answers starts now...
1. Chapter 1: Rise And Shine

The first thing Marinette noticed when she awoke was that she was most definitely not in her usual room. Opening her eyes, she glanced down to discover she was attired in a smart set of matching red and black spotted pyjamas, in a plain white bed with a plastic sheet which smelt like disinfectant. _What the_ …

The next little observation she made was that the walls and floors to the unfamiliar place she now lay were devoid of any other kind of furniture save for a small bedside table upon which rested a cheap lamp, and the floors and walls were all padded and puffy like a giant marshmallow. Not quite the decor she'd have chosen, but right now she had bigger concerns.

Namely: where in the heck she was, what on Earth she was wearing and _what is the last thing that I remember?! I was swinging through the streets of Paris as usual, en route to the latest akuma alert, when there was a bright flash of light, aannddd…_

Everything else was a complete blank. She tried desperately to access those elusive memories for a good few minutes, all to no avail. Frustrated at her own inability to remember or even form the slightest notion about what was happening, she glanced around in vain for answers only to find precisely none. Other than what looked like some sort of pale gown sprawled messily on the floor and a dirty mirror in the corner, she seemed to be completely alone.

Deciding that she'd had quite enough of feeling confused and anxious, Marinette wasted no more time in leaping out of bed to continue her until now fruitless quest for answers. A couple more curious things came to her attention as her bare feet hit the spongy floor: some minisculely serrated scars running up her inner arm, a small transparent wristband with her name written on it, the fact she still felt so tired as if just stirred from a long, drug-induced nap…

Instinctively, she reached for her earlobes, not surprised at all to discover her Miraculous were not present. They didn't seem to be located anywhere else nearby either, so discussing the current predicament with Tikki was not a viable option.

She sighed to herself, hoping against hope that this was some sort of weird akumatised villain inspired-hallucination that she'd soon recover from. In the meantime, the fact she could feel it when she pinched herself and physically touch her surroundings made this reality as genuine as anything else, so she'd just have to roll with it. With an elongated sigh, she decided to turn to the mirror and wipe it clean, to find out what the rest of the 'damage' might be.

All things considered, it wasn't as bad as she expected. Her midnight black hair, which normally took on a hint of blue in the light of day, was no longer in bunches, and instead cascaded freely down her neck. There were visibly darkened bags under her eyes, as if despite her exhaustion, she hadn't been getting enough rest.

Everything else appeared to be in order though, and at the very least she _looked_ like herself. This might ordinarily seem like a pretty minor thing, but under the current surreal circumstances nothing could be taken for granted, so she was glad for that small mercy at least.

After confirming she was still more-or-less Marinette Dupain-Cheng (albeit a very lost and confuddled version), her attention turned to the door, which looked as if it was designed to be as secure as a bank vault. Crossing her fingers tentatively, she scuttled over to try and turn the circular handle. _Locked. What a shocker. That would explain the keyhole in the middle of the knob, I suppose. Oh well, guess I've no option but to wait it out and see what my captor intends to do with me. Then I can think about escaping…_

She didn't have long to hang on for that, though. A few trifling moments later, before she'd even made it back to the sanctuary of her bed, she heard a key being inserted somewhere nearby, and saw the handle of her door slowly being turned anticlockwise. Without any further warning, the door was flung open, and the half-Chinese girl braced herself for a fight...

...But what she actually got was not quite what she expected. For there, standing in the doorway with an irrepressibly infectious smile present on her rosy cheeks, stood a youngish woman with her red hair in a tight bun and wearing a clean all-white uniform, apart from a hat emblazoned with a red cross. She didn't seem prepared to use violence at all, and upon seeing a stunned Marinette out of bed staring at her arrival in wonderment, her genial expression took on the appearance of a very motherly concern.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, just _what_ do you think you're doing?! Your parents are coming for a visit today, and do you have any idea what they'd say to me if they knew you were up and about without permission when you haven't even taken your daily medication? Now, get back under those covers this instant! Honestly child, you'll be the death of me yet!"

Quite taken aback by this unexpected chain of events, a nonplussed Marinette allowed herself to be guided back to her sleeping quarters and have the quilt pulled over her once more, while the nurse (for that's obviously who she was) began popping a couple of pills into a small styrofoam cup.

"Now, swallow these please dearie, then lift up your tongue…" The strangely familiar lady told Marinette firmly but pleasantly, passing the tiny container with the tablets inside to her 'patient'. "After you do that, we can get on with the rest of the day! First, we'll get you washed and dressed, then before your Mummy and Daddy arrive it'll be time for group therapy…"

"Your plan isn't going to work, you know 'Miss Caline Bustier'..." Marinette eyed the teacher-turned-nurse's name tag suspiciously, while tossing her medication away as far away as humanly possible in a room this size. "I don't know what Hawkmoth wants to accomplish with this bizarre make-believe vision, but it'll fail, just like all of his other evil schemes…"

"Oh my dear, we're not _still_ going on about this fictitious 'Hawkmoth' character again, are we?" Miss Bustier didn't seem phased by Marinette's defiant stance one bit, and instead carefully brushed past her to deposit the pills back into the cup, making sure the door behind her was closed first, of course. "Exactly how feasible is it for a solitary man in a silly mask surrounded by magical butterflies to bring an entire city to it's knees?! Don't you think he'd get kind of lonely? And all that stuff about whether he's a twin or not… pure _nonsense_!"

Marinette didn't know exactly how to respond to this sudden claim from the amused nurse, the gobsmacked girl's only response being a stammered single word sentence borne out of pure amazement. " **W-What**?!"

Miss Bustier smiled sympathetically at her charge, as if the teenager was saying things she couldn't quite control. "My dear, you seen to forget… I've heard all of your funny stories multiple times already. What an imagination you have! The entire pigeon population controlled by just one person. A bubble-blowing boy capturing every single adult in his soapy creations. A child making voodoo puppets she manipulates using the power of thought alone. Mystical books. Magical jewelry. And a wisecracking feline hero with a tail, going by the name of 'Cat Noir'…"

If Marinette's jaw could have opened any further, she probably could have fit the rest of herself in there. "H-Huh?! W-What do you know about C-Cat N-Noir?!"

"Well, I 'know' you have a mega-sized crush on him, judging by the amount of good things I hear from you about your supposed escapades together…" Miss Bustier was now in the process of manually inserting the tablets into her patient's mouth, seeing as the bewildered girl couldn't be trusted to do it herself. "I can also tell you he's a resident here too, with many of the same tragic delusions you suffer from yourself. You even go to the same group sessions, where you entertain the rest of us with detailed re-enactments of your thrilling adventures. Don't you remember, you both checked in at more-or-less the same time? You've been pretty much inseparable ever since. Him as this 'Cat Noir', you as this 'Ladybird', what a team you make..."

She couldn't help it. As sworn as she was to protect her secret identity with her very life, Marinette unwittingly found herself correcting the nurse on her little verbal slippage. "I-It's actually pronounced L-Ladybug…"

Miss Bustier responding by shrugging her shoulders dismissively, as if she didn't really care. "Whatever. To be frank, I'm getting a bit tired of hearing about 'Spots On' this and 'Lucky Charm' that. I wish you'd save that kind of thing for the psychiatrist, or at least write a book about it to clear your head. It's not against regulations for me to have a typewriter installed in here for you, you know. Anyway, swallow those pills right now please, then we can put your dressing gown on and make our way to the bathroom. I bet you can't _wait_ to see your friend Adrien again…!"

Almost running on autopilot by now, Marinette saw no other option than to comply with the nurse's instructions for now, and reluctantly allowed the chalky-tasting medication to drift down her throat and be absorbed into her system. As a finally-satisfied Miss Bustier began to help the perplexed teenager on with her gown, a large number of unanswered questions began to form inside her hazy mind.

Amongst all of them though, one stood out the most. _Adrien? He's here too?! And we're friends, even in this bonkers world? What's he got to do with Cat Noir?! S-Surely he c-couldn't b-be..._

…..

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome to a little side project of mine. The idea for this story was too good to pass up, despite my many other fics I'm working on right now, I put some time aside to write this first chapter. :)

Hope you enjoyed it, and updates will depend entirely on how popular it is. So, if you want more, don't forget to 'Fav' or 'Follow' it. A few comments would be nice, too. ;)


	2. Chapter 2: Morning routine

After waking up to find herself as a resident in some kind of deranged medical facility, discovering her old schoolteacher was her own personal nurse and realising with horror that everyone else thought she was nuts, Marinette Dupain-Cheng (formerly known as Ladybug) would've perhaps been forgiven for thinking that things couldn't get even weirder... but she was about to be proven very wrong.

As soon as the heavily reinforced iron door to her new bedroom/cell was opened after she'd had the dressing gown cord securely tied around her waist, it was like stepping into another world. One that Marinette hated immediately on sight, and that she planned to egress as soon as possible.

Long, featureless white corridors that seemed to have no end. Trolleys with unconscious people on them, being pushed around by expressionless paramedics. Elderly men and women wandering around by themselves, very disorientated and seemingly unaccompanied. A crackly tannoy announcement in the background, directing one of the staff members on duty to their next assignment: "Would Ms Mendeliev * **FIZZLE** * please come to Ward 2A this instant * **SPLUTTER** *"...

"Hang on a minute, they _can't_ mean Ms Mendeliev the science teacher… could they?!" Marinette was understandably a little baffled upon hearing this barely coherent broadcast, forgetting of course that another former educator-turned-medic was right behind her, which would perhaps give the remote possibility more weight than otherwise might've been the case.

"What are you talking about?! You already _know_ Ms Mendeliev is one of the best and most respected workers we've got here…" Miss Bustier said puzzlingly to her patient, while holding the teenager's hand tightly. "She's the nice lady who helps hold you down when I need to give you an injection so you can relax! And with all of the paramnesia you've experienced of late, you see her at least twice every week! Anyway, enough pointless chatter. Let's head to the bathroom now. This way, please."

For once, Marinette was grateful for the company of the nurse, as these nightmarish passages full of screeching sick people being ferried about and grimacing underpaid doctors barging past her at every turn left the half-Chinese nauseous and more than a little scared.

So she continued to cling close to Miss Bustier as the redhead marched her to the end of the corridor, where there were two rooms standing almost side-by-side, one with a 'gents' sign on it, the other decorated with a 'ladies' insignia. Without missing a beat, the nurse marched right up to the 'ladies' unit with her patient in tow, firmly knocking on the door and waiting around for a few moments as if expecting a reply.

"We're in luck, dear… the place is vacant this early for a change." Miss Bustier smiled down at Marinette, tousling her unkempt hair affectionately in the process."That Bourgeois girl can take _hours_ in the bathroom applying her make-up. Usually it wouldn't be allowed in a hospital for special people such as this, but her father _is_ the head administrator here, so what can you do? I'm not going to risk my job by contradicting the boss. For now, let's just go inside, shall we? There's a big day ahead for you… and I want to be sure you look your best!"

 _If she means 'Chloe Bourgeois', then I'm not surprised at all_ , Marinette noted glumly, as the pair proceeded into the empty room together and the lock clicked behind them. _It sounds like she's just as spoiled and narcissistic in this world as she is in the 'real' one. Plus, if she hates me as much here as back home, and Andre overlooks her misdemeanours like he does back in my Paris… well, that could cause a lot of trouble._

"Well go on then Miss Dupain-Cheng, get undressed!" Caline Bustier's jaunty words suddenly broke Marinette out of her contemplation. "If we're going to squeeze in a visit from your parents and a full therapy session before noon, then we should get started as soon as possible!"

"U-Um…" Marinette raised a confused eyebrow upon hearing this sudden request, and turned to face the nurse with concern. "Aren't you going to leave the room then, so I can get ready in peace?"

"Oh my dear, we _are_ in a funny mood this morning!" Miss Bustier observed the teenage girl with mild amusement, as if she'd just said something very comical. "We must review your medicinal dosages later on, because one of them must be making you act out this way. Well, if you're too preoccupied to do as I ask, I suppose I can help you out. Alley-oops!"

With that final declaration, Miss Bustier wasted no more time in removing Marinette's pyjama top, and the teenage girl, as taken unawares as she was, could do nothing to prevent it from happening. Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing any supporting underwear either, which led to much desperate covering of her chest area while her face turned a deep shade of crimson.

"G-Give that back to me right _now_!" Marinette demanded, gesturing with her foot towards the red and black spotted top now being folded by the nurse, as her hands were otherwise occupied. "W-Who do you think you are?! I-I'll have you arrested for this…"

"I don't know _what's_ gotten into you today, Miss Dupain-Cheng. It must be the fact your Mummy and Daddy are coming to see you which has got you all worked up." Miss Bustier sighed in exasperation, while shaking her head sadly. "Perhaps we ought to review your future visitations with them, if it's going to have this kind of adverse effect on you. Now, this piece of clothing needs to go into the laundry for tonight, along with those bottoms you've on now. Please, no more silly games for today, dear. Just take them off now so you can get yourself clean, there's a good girl. You don't want me to have to call the orderlies to come in and 'assist' me, do you?"

Deciding that she didn't really like the sound of these 'orderlies' rushing in and serving her up with an even greater helping of embarrassment, a quivering Marinette obeyed the instruction with _extreme_ reluctance, making sure her butt was facing Miss Bustier all the time so her nurse would avoid seeing the most 'private' parts of her body.

Then, naked as she was now, Marinette began to scan the area with extreme urgency for any kind of washing facility. _Three sinks, three cubicles with toilets inside and a shower. I guess I'm supposed to use the latter. Oh well, here goes nothing…_

Luckily, someone had been kind or absent-minded enough to leave some shampoo and soap inside the shower already, so Marinette was able to begin cleaning herself without any further delay. _Unluckily_. Miss Bustier's contribution to the teenager's utter humiliation apparently wasn't quite over yet, for the nurse had set up a chair a few feet away from where Marinette stood under the water to scrutinise her closely, even during her obvious state of undress.

"Erm… hello? Ever heard of personal space?!" Marinette complained, trying to vigorously lather up the soap so she could cover as much of herself as possible.

"Really, Miss Dupeng-Cheng. I've seen you naked almost every single morning of your stay here so far as one of our 'guests', so I really don't understand why you're being so bashful." Miss Bustier commented wryly on her charge's 'odd' behaviour, before another thought began to occur to her. "Unless… there _is_ a good reason for it…"

Before Marinette knew what was going on, Miss Bustier got up off her seat to turn the spray off, and there stood a very panicky naked teenage girl directly in front of her, flapping limbs desperately trying to cover every nook and cranny, trying to retain whatever sliver of dignity she might have left.

"W-What are you doing?! T-This isn't right… t-this isn't right _at all_ …" A very agitated Marinette had now resorted to crouching in a foetal position in the corner of the shower while rocking gently from side-to-side, praying to whoever that this was all just some horrible dream, and soon enough she'd wake up in her own safe upstairs bedroom at the bakery, with Tikki tickling the tip of her nose and the smell of delicious homemade bread wafting from the floor below…"

"Please stand up, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Arms by your sides, if you will…" All pretence of Miss Bustier being affable and amiable were now nothing more than a distant memory, for now she was nothing but business. "Judging by your strange and suspicious conduct this morning, and your long history with the twin perils of drug abuse and cutting yourself, I have no other recourse than to believe you may be harbouring illegal contraband on your person, which will require me to perform a…"

"W-What the hell are you talking about, Miss Bustier?! Y-You know I'd never do anything like that…" Marinette pleaded with the unmoved nurse, her palms leaving sweat marks on the tiled wall. "C-Come on... t-the _real_ you, the kind, responsible teacher who's helped me much over the past year, there's got to be a trace of h-her s-somewhere.."

For a very brief moment, it looked like the nurse's bottom lip began flickering a little, as if a slight recollection of her 'past life' flashed through her brain, but almost as soon as Marinette's hopes were raised Miss Bustier managed to shake them away, and the disturbing scene continued without any further interruption.

"... _Strip search_!" The nurse finished off her sentence with the two words Marinette dreaded to hear, before recounting exactly what they would entail. "Now, I'm going to need you to get up off that wet floor, there's a good girl. Then, shake out your hair, show me the insides of your ears, mouth and nose. Next, lift up your arms, then your breasts, before the final thing to do is for you to squat and cough. I appreciate how awkward this might be for you, but this building has a very clear policy on transporting dangerous paraphernalia, and we take any and all steps against its potential use, especially involving those at high risk including yourself. Shall we begin? You don't want me to have to call in the orderlies, do you?"

Realising at this stage that would probably be Miss Bustier's standard threat whenever she didn't get her way, Marinette nevertheless conceded it was still a pretty good one. There seemed to be little point in screaming for help in a place like this where she'd only be contributing to the traumatised howls of many others, and the determined nurse clearly wasn't going to change her mind anytime soon, so the stricken girl did the one thing she could think of.

She gave in, and did exactly as Miss Bustier instructed. _Just you wait, Hawkmoth. My original intention was just to capture you so you'd face true justice, but now I might very well might kill you. For your sake, I hope Cat Noir manages to stop me_ …"

…..

Marinette made the long trek to her first supposed 'group therapy' session (that she remembered, at least) in such a mortified daze, she paid almost no heed to the interior of the hospital that was now unwittingly and most unwillingly her home.

Needless to say, Miss Bustier had also been present when she'd tied her hair into bunches and changed into a 'sweet' ensemble of faded trousers and a colourless blouse, while the brown and greyish slippers they gave you to wander about the building in were truly to die for.

Right now, she felt depressed, violated and just a _little_ angry… ready to leave this awful place by any means necessary and maybe even shed some blood in the process.

 _Of course, I'll have to find Cat Noir first_ … she pondered grimly, as Miss Bustier led her into what seemed like a large communal area. _Could he really be Adrien? The two of them are such poles apart in terms of their personality, it barely seems logical. I'll have to ask him later on…_

The teenage girl's procrastination was suddenly broken, as without warning she found herself being thrust into a circle of people who seemed very familiar indeed. As well they might be… for they were all her classmates from College Francoise Dupont, now rechristened 'Francoise Dupont Mental Institution', judging by the some of the labels sewn into their collars.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then. I'll be back to pick you up later, when your parents arrive. Cheerio!" Miss Bustier offered her charge a fond farewell and even patted her on the back as she left, but Marinette wasn't giving her much attention.

The teenager was far too busy observing her old school chums, now apparently turned fellow patients. They were all attired in very much the same indistinguishable pallid togs that Marinette herself now wore, and none of them seemed the slightest bit bothered by her sudden entrance. Indeed, most were so busy with their own personal preoccupations, it looked like there was barely any connection between them and their surroundings at all.

 _There's Alya on her phone, Nino on his iPod Shuffle and Chloe looking in her vanity mirror... nothing new there I suppose,_ Marinette noted, although the level of obsession each one took with each of their devices seemed to be much unhealthier than usual. _I'll try to help them if I can, but first of all I have to find my partner. Now where could he be…_

That question was soon answered, at least in part. For unexpectedly, just to her left, who should emerge but Adrien himself, grinning feverishly and holding up a big red and black spotted costume to her nose. It looked very much like the one she usually wore when saving the city, except it _couldn't_ be, for it was made from inexpensive cotton you could easily tear in half given half the chance. Not a very practical outfit for a superhero on the go, to be sure.

"Come on, Marinette. Mr Damocles will be here in a minute, and we want to put on a good show for everybody else!" Adrien himself had a cheap cat costume ready to change into, faux leather all the way with the tail half hanging off. "Shall we go and get prepared for our loyal audience? I have a feeling that today's performance might be our best ever!"

Marinette tried to smile and nod at the blonde haired boy's obvious enthusiasm, but right now her heart was genuinely sinking. She'd no clue why she'd bought into the outlandish idea that Adrien would be the only one apart from her able to resist the illusion of this crazy world. _Wild optimism_ , she guessed.

Faced with little other choice, she rolled her eyes in defeat and said: "Fine, so where do we get rea…"

That's when she noticed it. _What? It's gone? It could be just a coincidence, but if it isn't then that could mean…_

For Adrien's ring, which he'd never taken off once in all the time she'd known him, was completely missing.

…..

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's the second part. Maybe I made it a bit more disturbing than originally intended, but oh well. It was just a natural effect of the setting, I suppose. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. More soon, for those that are interested :)


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